Thursday, October 25, 2012

Easy Halloween Cards

When I was first married my mother in law encouraged me with cards for every holiday. It was a tradition I soon adapted (for immediate family members - it's not a huge undertaking like Christmas cards are) in hopes that it would encourage the recipients too. Now that I'm getting crafty (not that I have a clue as to what I'm doing) I've started making some of my own cards. Hopefully folks will like the personal touch and hopefully, with time and practice, I'll get better at it. But I thought you might like to see how easy card making can be. With some blank card stock, an orange sharpie, a black ink pad and $1 stamp from Michaels I was able to make this year's Halloween cards.

I started using my regular card writing script (freehand quasi-calligraphy). The card stock was cream instead of white and I guess that was enough to make the orange marker look more red than orange but I still think it's cute and Halloween-y.

Then tried patterning my writing after the scrapbook page Halloween greeting below. I didn't quite achieve their look but it was fun trying. We have two black cats so I liked the black cat stamp and hope our recipients like it too. I added orange dots to the stamped cats eyes to give them a more Halloween-y feel.

If you made your own Halloween cards and posted photos I'd love to see them! Happy Halloween and merry crafting!

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Halloween Pumpkin Recycled Egg Carton Craft

I made this cute Halloween pumpkin out of a recycled egg carton (the cardboard kind) and set it on top of some extra upside-down Halloween colored cupcake wrappers (I used three so they'd be strong enough to support the pumpkin). The stem is made from a pipe cleaner and I used basic acrylic paint for the pumpkin (orange for the body and black for the facial features). It was a relatively quick and easy project. The only time suck was waiting on the orange paint to dry before painting the black Jack-o-lantern face on the pumpkin. I had planned to make three of these for our dining room holiday display nook but decided to give it to a friend instead (the photograph was taken in her house where she'd placed it in her foyer).

Happy October and Halloween everyone!

Thursday, October 11, 2012

Craft Room Inspiration


Someday, I'd love to have my own beautifully organized craft and hobby room. Until then I'm inspired by my friend Janet's room. You can see my virtual tour of her super organized craft room here. Is your craft room/area organized? I'd love to hear about it or see pictures if you've posted them on the web. Please share!

As always, I wish you happy crafting!

(Full link just in case you need it: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2012/10/janets-super-organized-craft-hobby-room.html)